Surprises
by TwiPotterGreys
Summary: <html><head></head>Sam is forced to leave his wife, Andy, and daughters to go undercover. Due to corruption on his handler's part, he is not pulled from the operation when he should be. He returns home to a surprise, and finds he missed a lot more than he bargained for. Rating: K/K , McSwarek</html>
1. News

"Andy, I can turn them down, but this guy has killed dozens of people, kids, and entire families. He's ruthless, he doesn't care who he has to take down to stay free. And he seems to disappear every time we get ready to go after him. Sending an undercover in may be the only way to catch him, and it has to be now, or he'll disappear again." Tears were forming in her eyes. He pulled her into a hug. After a moment, she pushed away.

"When do you have to leave?"

"Day after tomorrow."

"How long will you be gone?"

"It's really involved. At least two months, maybe longer."

"How are we going to tell the girls?"

"We'll figure it out."

"Alright, I guess if you have to go, you have to."

"Thank you. I'll do whatever I can to make it up to you when I get back."

Andy took a deep breath. This was going to be the hard part; they had to explain to the girls why their father was going to disappear for months without being able to talk to them.

"Girls," Andy called, "can you come back down now?"

The girls came back downstairs, the necklaces all but forgotten by Sam clutched in their small hands.

"Dani, Lily, we have something very important we need to talk to you about, and it's important that you listen very carefully to our words, okay."

They both nodded. "Momma, what's wrong?" Dani asked.

"Nothing is really wrong honey, there's just some bad news we have to tell you," Andy began. The girls didn't question them further, so she continued. "You know how mommy and daddy help people and put the bad guys in jail?" Both girls nodded, but didn't speak, "well, sometimes a police officer has to go away and pretend to be a bad guy for a little while. They can't live with their family, or even talk to them. They have to pretend to be bad all the time." Lily's eyes widened. She was catching on a little faster than Dani, who was a year younger.

"Momma, do you have to go away and pretend to be bad?"

"No, honey, daddy has to for a little while."

Dani looked at Sam with her eyes full of tears, "Daddy's leaving?"

Sam picked her up, and spun her around to sit down on the couch with her in his lap. Andy did the same with Lily. "I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise, I'll think about you all the time, and miss you like crazy."

Lily looked at Andy in fear, "you said Daddy had to be bad, is daddy going to go to jail for being bad?"

"No sweetie, daddy is only pretending to be a bad guy so he can see what the real bad guy is doing and tell the police so they can put him in jail."

"But daddy, if you know he's bad, why can't you just put him in jail?"

Sam and Andy didn't quite know how to explain the court system to a three and four year old. Andy thought of an incident about two weeks ago. It had upset her and Sam then, but now it may be useful.

"Remember a few weeks ago when Dani ate the cookies left in the bottom of the cookie jar?" They both nodded. "When we found the empty cookie jar we didn't know who had done it because we didn't see which one of you took the cookie. We had to wait for you to tell us who had done it." They nodded. "Well, we're sure the bad guy did some very mean things, but we never saw him, so we can't prove it. So they need daddy to go watch him for a little while. But in order for the bad guy to let daddy see, he has to think they're friends, so daddy has to live near him and pretend to be like him for a while."

"So, daddy is gonna do like we do when we play princess?" Dani asked.

Andy had to smile slightly at the way her daughters' minds worked. They didn't have to worry about him getting made. They didn't have to worry about their daddy not coming home. To them Sam was just playing an extended game of dress up. "Yes, sweetheart, daddy's pretending like you do when we play princesses."

"Oh, are you sure you can't live with us while you're pretending?"

"Honey, if the bad guys find out I'm a police officer, they won't let me see them doing bad stuff, then we will never put them in jail, if they see me coming home, they'll know I'm pretending."

"Oh, okay. I'll miss you a lot, daddy," Dani replied.

"Me, too, daddy. I'll miss you every day until you come home," Lily echoed.

"That makes three of us," Andy sighed. Sam rubbed her back.

"Will you take my necklace with you?" asked Lily, offering it to Sam.

"Mine, too," Dani asked, "so you don't forget about me?"

The sight brought Andy to tears, and made Sam's eyes prick. "Dani, I'll never forget about you, or Lily, ever, no matter what happens, or how long I'm gone."

"Will you take them anyway, pretty please?" Lily pleaded.

"Of course, girls, I'll keep them in my top drawer while I'm living in my pretend house."

"Alright, girls, time for bed," Andy said. "Go get changed and we'll be up in a minute."

"But momma," Lily whined.

"Daddy will be here tomorrow and the next day. Tomorrow night we'll do something fun."

"Movie night?" Dani asked.

"Sure, whatever you want to watch," Sam replied easily.

"I don't know, a good movie, it has to be just right," Lily answered.

"You can sleep on it; tell us in the morning,"

"Okay." The girls ran upstairs to get ready for bed, and pick out the books they wanted to read.

Sam and Andy followed after them. They got them ready for bed and read The Cat in the Hat, and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, their two favorite books. Once they said goodnight, Sam and Andy headed back downstairs and curled up on the couch.


	2. First Night

They sat in silence for a while, content with just being with each other for as long as they could be.

Sam finally broke the silence. "Are you mad?" He whispered.

"No, not at you anyway, maybe at the situation, though. You told them five years ago you were done. I do have to admit I'm surprised this didn't come sooner though."

"What do you mean?"

"You were one of Guns and Gangs best UCs. I expected them to try this a few years ago. They've actually been pretty good about it, until now, anyways," She paused. Sam knew she wasn't finished, though, so he waited for her to go on. "Sam? How do I do this, we have a system, everything gets done on time because we work together. When I'm doing it on my own, how am I supposed to get them ready for school? How am I supposed to get to work on time?"

"I'll be home as soon as I can be. You'll have your dad, Traci and Jerry, Nick, Oliver and even Epstein. I spoke with Frank, too. He said you can have a couple of days to get a routine down if you need. You can come in late, or just take a few days for yourself and the girls, he'll understand. And I'll be home as soon as I can."

"Is Blackstone running this?"

"No, this is one of Boyd's old cases."

"Boyd? Boyd, as in the one who almost got you killed? You're working for Boyd? Why wasn't he fired?"

"The evidence mysteriously disappeared. There's no proof he had anything to do with that. He got suspended, but with no evidence they couldn't prove he'd done anything wrong. It was our word against his. The only record of that case in the computer is the one he messed with."

"And you're going under with him in charge?"

"He has someone monitoring him and the information, but he's running it. I have to do this, you know if there was any way to avoid it I would, but I can't. Why were you asking about Blackstone?"

"Blackstone gives a few weekends off, but I guess this is better, we don't want the girls to get excited when you come home, just to have you leave again. But it would have been nice to see you once in a while."

"I know. I'll miss you, too. But I'll be back as soon as we have enough evidence, I promise."

"What if you don't come home, Sam? How would I tell the girls? As far as they're concerned, you've gone off playing pretend to find out who stole the cookies from the cookie jar."

"Hey, that was your metaphor not mine," he laughed, but stopped once he saw the look in her eye. "Seriously Andy, I'm not going to let anything to me, I would let down too many important people."

"Really? Who are these people? Do I know them?" She actually managed a laugh.

"Well, there's this woman, beautiful, brunette, love of my life. In fact, she's one of the few women I've ever loved. Name's Andrea, but she goes by Andy, or my personal favorite, McNally."

"It's Swarek now, if you don't mind. Now what about these other women?"

"Well, there's Lillian, spent some of the best years of my life with her, almost as beautiful as Andrea. She has these eyes she uses when she wants something, melts you. Makes you give want to give her an extra cookie, or two, even though her mommy said one was enough."

"What? When was this?"

Sam smiled nervously, "Do you want to hear the rest or not?" She stayed silent, so he took that as a cue to continue.

"Danielle, I've spent the shortest amount of time with this one, but I love her just as much as the other two. Even when she makes me sit at a tea party and makes me be a princess."

"Then, there's my favorite sister in the whole world, Sarah, who would most likely revive me just to kill me again for dying on her, and all of you."

"Finally," but he was cut off by her turning around.

"There's more?"

"Just listen. Finally, there's Oliver, best friend, best man extraordinaire. His words not mine, and never tell him I said that. There through thick in thin, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad…"

"Are you married to me, or him?"

"You, you're more attractive, not to mention he was already married when I proposed to you."

"Is that the real reason you asked me? He was taken?"

"No, Andy. I have never loved anyone, this way at least, but you."

"I guess that's okay then."

"We should get some sleep; tomorrow will be a long day."

They headed upstairs shortly after that. They had just settled in when they heard a knock on their door and two small heads poke in.

"Hmm?" Sam groaned.

"Can we sleep with you and momma tonight, daddy?" Lily asked.

Sam and Andy shared a glance. Letting the girls into their bed was a rare occurrence, as they didn't want any habits to be formed. Tonight was special though, Sam would be leaving in just over 24 hours and they both wanted him to spend as much time as he could with the girls before he had to leave.

Sam sighed, "Okay, but just for tonight."

The girls came around to opposite sides of the bed, and were lifted in and placed in between their parents.

"Night night, momma, night night, daddy, night night Lily."

"Good night, momma, daddy, Dani. See you tomorrow."

"Good night, girls. Night, Sam."

"Good night, ladies."

'I love you's' were exchanged, and soon the girls were sleeping soundly, faces buried in their parents' chests. Sam and Andy stay up staring at each other, and having hushed conversations for hours afterwards until they finally fell asleep. Andy dozed off first, and Sam drifted off soon after, watching his three girls sleep.


	3. Preparing

The girls woke up before their parents' alarm the next morning, so Sam and Andy were up earlier than normal as well.

"Mommy, can we stay home from school with daddy today?" Lily asked.

"Honey, I would say yes if we didn't have to go to work, but we do, and there's no reason to stay home if daddy isn't going to be here. We'll see him again tonight. Alright, kiddo?" she answered.

"Okay, can we have breakfast for dinner, and then watch The Tigger Movie?"

"if that's what you and you sister want to do it's fine with us."

After Sam and Andy dropped the girls off at school, they headed towards the station.

"See you after work," Andy said as they went their separate ways at the women's locker room door.

"See you then. I love you," he answered.

"Love you, too."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Andy walked in the locker room, changed and then just sat on the bench near her locker. Traci found her like that ten minutes later.

"Andy?"

"Hey, Trace."

"You okay?"

"I'm fine." Andy knew Traci would see right through this, but had to make an attempt anyway.

"Andy," she warned, "you and I both know that's not true. What's going on? Don't make me get Sam."

"He's leaving, undercover. For at least two months. And, if that's not bad enough, Boyd's running it."

"Oh, gosh! How are you? Have you told the girls?"

"Yeah, all they know is their daddy is going to catch bad guys. They don't know that he could disappear for up to a year, that he could not come home at all. And I don't know how to parent the girls without him for that long."

"Andy, you can't think he's not coming home, you're only going to stress yourself out. You're going to be fine with the girls, you have Jerry and I, not to mention the entire 15th division, and your dad. When exactly…?"

"Tomorrow night. It's really last minute," she answered.

"Nash, McNally," Marlo had walked in. She and Andy weren't on the best terms, but they still were able to get along when the job called for them to work together. "Parade is about to start."

"Thanks, Cruz," Traci answered, and her and Andy left to join their colleagues.

The day went quickly; Andy rode with Oliver, who had been informed about what was happening by Sam.

"Swarek," Oliver said. She didn't respond. So he tried again, and again, neither time caught her attention.

"McNally," Andy looked up, she'd been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't heard him the first several time he called her, "he will come back, there's no way he would let anyone stop him from getting back to you."

"I know he'll do everything he can, but some things are out of his control. Boyd almost got him killed once, it could happen again."

"Boyd isn't going to do anything dangerous, he's done some horrible things, but if he pushes anything that's not protocol, he'll be off the case and fired before he can even start to try and justify it. He's being monitored; nothing is going to slip through the cracks this time."

"I know that, but I have the girls to worry about."

"I realize everyone is telling you this, but you're not alone, the division has your back. We're all going to help."

"Thanks, Ollie."

"My pleasure, McNally."

The rest of the day passed quickly. It was relatively quiet, and no rookies around to jinx that.

No one knew Sam was leaving except for Andy, Traci, Oliver, and Sam himself. They preferred it that way though, the fewer people who felt obliged to wish him luck the less of his time he wasted, and the more time he got with Andy and his children.

The girls had fallen asleep on their parents in the middle of the third movie. It was decided that they could stay up late tonight and miss school to see Sam off the next day.


	4. Goodbye

Chapter 4

Dani and Lily held tight to Andy's hands as they watched Sam throw his back in the back of the SUV and then climb in the front. All four of them had tears in their eyes. The mornig had been crazy and they had hardly had anytime to absorb everything that was happening.

"Andy have you seen my old black belt?" Sam yelled from the living room where he was doing a last minute inventory of his duffle bag.

She appeared around the corner," You mean this one?" she asked holding it.

"Yeah, thanks, you're a lifesaver. What about my…"

"Sneakers?" She interrupted, "Right here." He packed those as well, and then the two of them made their way to the table where the girls were waiting to eat breakfast with their father one last time.

Breakfast was eaten leisurely, in near silence, no one knew exactly what to say, it was only as they were finishing that Sam looked at Dani and Lily and said, "Girls, things are going to be a bit different around here for a while, mommy is doing the job of two parents and it would be very helpful and grown up if you could make it easier for her by doing what she asks you to, okay?"

"Alright, daddy." They answered.

Andy had begun to clear the dirty dishes from the table when she happened to glance at the clock on the stove. "Sam, what time are you supposed to be at the station?"

"Nine," he answered, "Why?"

"It's ten to nine now.

Sam swore under his breath. They had woken up plenty early, the girls had made sure of that, and everything had seemed to be on track, but somehow they had ended up running late with only fourty minutes until he had to leave, and ten before he got to the station.

Sam grabbed his bag and Andy grabbed the girls, their dishes left on the table and counter, and ran out the door, climbing into Sam's truck. They made it to the station just two minutes past nine and Sam ran in while Andy readied the girls.

The briefing was brief. Sam knew the case, and only needed to know exactly who he was and what he evidence he was collecting. Best, Boyd, and Sam all came back out of the interview room just fifteen minutes later.

"You have fifteen minutes to say goodbye, make it fast," Boyd told Sam walking away. "McNally," he greeted, glaring at her as he walked past.

"Boyd," she answered,"and its Swarek now, thanks," she said to his back.

Sam crouched down to talk to the girls first before rising to talk to Andy.

"I love you," he said.

"I know. I love you, too." She answered.

"I'm sorry for doing this."

"Not your fault."

"I'll miss you, all of you."

"Just come home."

"I will."

"Be safe."

"You, too."

"Goodbye"

"Bye, Sam."

"Goodbye, Daddy. I love you." Lily said.

"I love you this much", Dani said, hold her arms out wide. "I'll miss you."

I love you both so much. Be good, okay?"

"Okay, bye daddy." They chimed together.

The family embraced one last time before the walked out together to see Sam off.

Sam waved out the window, and the three on the sidewalk waved back, but too soon the car turned a corner. They all turned to go back inside, already feeling a little empty inside.


End file.
